Tanks for the continuous treatment of elongated metal workpieces

ABSTRACT

A tank for the continuous treatment of elongated metal strips and workpieces by transient immersion in acid solutions comprises an elongated tubular construction having circumferentially extending tubular stiffening parts at spaced positions along its length, the wall of the tubular construction being formed with ports opening into the interior of said stiffening parts and said interiors of all of said stiffening parts being connected to a manifold for fume extraction purposes.

United States Patent [1 1 [111 3,776,414 Baker Dec. 4, 1973 TANKS FORTHE CONTINUOUS 3,425,234 2/1969 Trepaud 62/45 TREATMENT OF ELONGATEDMETAL 2,264,668 12/1941 Horton 220/l B WORKPIECES Frank George MorleyBaker, Wednesbury, Staffordshire, England Assigneez Wednesbury,

Staffs, England Filed: Sept. 11, 1972 Appl. No.: 287,804

Inventor:

Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 11, 1971 Great Britain 42,440 71US. Cl. 220/71, 220/1 B, 220/9 B Int. Cl. .Q B65d 7/42 Field of Search220/71, 72, 1 B,

220/5 A, 9 B, 85 S, 85 VS, 85 VR, 9 LG References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 5/1936 Kinzel 220/9 LG Primary Examiner-Herbert F. RossAssistant Examiner-Steven M1 Pollard Attorney-John C. Holman et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A tank for the continuous treatment of elongated metalstrips and workpieces by transient immersion in acid solutions comprisesan elongated tubular construction having circumferentially extendingtubular stiffening parts at spaced positions along its length, the wallof the tubular construction being formed with ports opening into theinterior of said stiffening parts and said interiors of all of saidstiffening parts being connected to a manifold for fume extractionpurposes.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTED 4975 SHEET 2 [1F 2 TANKS FOR THECONTINUOUS TREATMENT OF ELONGATED METAL WORKPIECES This inventionrelates to tanks for the continuous treatment of elongated metal stripsand workpieces and is particularly concerned with the continuoustreatment of ferrous and non-ferrous metals by transient ir'nmersion inacid solutions. Currently available tanks are normally open topped metalstructures, usually lined with chemically resistant rubber or syntheticresin material and protected by internal brickwork. Loose covers areprovided and rest on top of the tanks to reduce the emission of fumesand heat from the tanks.

Such tanks have the disadvantage that they must normally be built insitu and when a tank on an existing treatment line has to be replacedthe result is that the line is out of use for a protracted period. Inaddition the loose covers used do not provide an efiicient fume seal andpowerful fume extraction equipment is often required. This has theeffect of cooling the acid in the tanks and extra heat has to becontinuously supplied.

A tank in accordance with the invention comprises an elongated tubularconstruction having circumferentially extending tubular stiffening partsat spaced positions along its length, the wall of the tubularconstruction being formed with ports opening into the interior of saidstiffening parts and said interiors of all of said stiffening partsbeing connected to a manifold for fume extraction purposes.

An example of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a section on one end of the treatment tank,

FIG. 2 is a section on line 22 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectionaland view of a further embodiment of the invention.

The tank is an elongated tubular construction having a cylindricalcentre section and a pair of end sections similar to that shown inFIG. 1. The tank may conveniently be formed of a glass reinforcedsynthetic resin material in a single piece or several sections may bejoined together to make up the tank. Alternatively other materials maybe used. The tubular section of the tank is supported by a pair ofcontinuous hollow leg sections one of which is used as a manifold forfume extraction purposes. Extending circumferentially around the tubulartank area series of tubular reinforcing parts 1 1 which have ports 12into the interior of the tank. These tubular reinforcing parts 1 1 eachterminate at one end in the manifold 10. A flanged connecting spigot 13is provided at one end of the manifold 10 for connecting the tank to thefume extraction system.

The tanks described can be made off site and transported to thetreatment line when required. Installation of a preformed tank in thisway is a relatively simple matter and it is envisaged that the down-timeon a line where a spare unit has to be installed could be a matter ofhours rather than weeks. Any subsequent rubber or plastic lining withbrick protection would be very light and substantially easier andcheaper to apply. The lining process would be more likely to beeffectively carried out in view of the smooth internal surface of thetank. The tanks can be produced very inexpensively as compared withexisting tanks and this makes it economically feasible for a user tocarry a spare tank in stock.

It will be appreciated that the tank is reinforced longitudinally by thelegs 10 and circumferentailly by a reinforcing tubes 11 which form anextremely rigid structure which can therefore be made very light.Considerable savings in foundation and support costs of the tanks cantherefore be achieved and on-site installation times can be reducedconsiderably.

Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a further elongated tubular tank 14of cylindrical section. This tank 14 may also conveniently be formed ofa glass reinforced synthetic resin material in a single piece or severalsections joined together. The tank 14 is supported by a pair of hollowleg sections 15 which need not however be continuous. Extendingcircumferentially around the tubular tank are a series of tubularreinforcing parts 16 which have ports into the interior of the tank.These tubular reinforcing parts 16 each terminate at one end in amanifold 17 of cylindrical section.

I claim:

1. A tank comprising an elongated tubular construction havingcircumferentially extending tubular stiffening parts at spaced positionsalong its length, the wall of the tubular construction being formed withports opening into the interior of said stiffening parts and saidinteriors of all of said stiffening parts being connected to a manifoldfor fume extraction purposes.

2. A tank as claimed in claim 1 and which is supported by at least onehollow leg section.

3. A tank as claimed in claim 1 and which is supported by two hollow legsections.

4. A tank as claimed in claim 3 in which one of the hollow leg sectionsserves as a manifold for fume extraction purposes.

1. A tank comprising an elongated tubular construction having circumferentially extending tubular stiffening parts at spaced positions along its length, the wall of the tubular construction being formed with ports opening into the interior of said stiffening parts and said interiors of all of said stiffening parts being connected to a manifold for fume extraction purposes.
 2. A tank as claimed in claim 1 and which is supported by at least one hollow leg section.
 3. A tank as claimed in claim 1 and which is supported by two hollow leg sections.
 4. A tank as claimed in claim 3 in which one of the hollow leg sections serves as a manifold for fume extraction purposes. 